I recently got a copy of a new study called “The Entrepreneur’s Census,” created by Matt Shapiro of Yale. There are some pretty interesting data points in the survey regarding startup in Palo Alto, Boston and New York City. As a person interested in growing entrepreneurship in Boston, something cool I took away from the census is that
Founders move to Palo Alto to start companies
and
Boston founders are likely to be students to came to Boston and then started companies
First, a little info on the census, as taken from the report:
The study originated in January 2010 as a project to understand the recent increase in entrepreneurial activity and investment in New York City… In March, we undertook the task of gathering granular information regarding the venture communities in Boston, Palo Alto and New York… We received response from 307 entrepreneurs. Collectively, these businesses have created more than 1,300 jobs and paid more than $7 Million in annual rent.
I believe that, as Scott Kirsner says, Boston’s greatest renewable resource is the students who show up every year. While a number of the people who found companies in Boston seem to be here because of their education, I’m not convinced that enough is being done to keep students in Boston after they complete their education. We need to actively support some of the efforts underway to make people feel more comfortable starting businesses in Boston, like DartBoston, Greenhorn Connect, TechStars and the Mass Challenge. (and I think something else that would make students feel more at home would be if the local road system/drivers could be a bit less third world and behave a little more like the rest of the country. Street signs and lane markers would be a good start.)
Secondly, there has got to be a way to make Boston more of a destination for starting new companies. I am convinced that Boston is by far the second best place in the entire world to start a software/internet business (I am saying that this is a really good thing!) and somehow the area to get more people to realize this.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
+100 on the street signs and markers. It's one of the many things that makes moving to Massachusetts a pain in the ass. It's easier to get health insurance through the exchange (the greatest thing about Mass) than to get a driver's license here. Not to say that insurance should be harder to get (theoretically, people moving here are younger than average and are a net benefit to the risk pool), but that getting a license (or a lease or whatever) should be easier.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
It's the little things that make you feel welcome – and being comfortable getting around is one of those little things. You shouldn't have to live somewhere for a number of years before you feel safe driving half a mile to the grocery store.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Healy,
Thanks for the mention! I couldn't agree more with your sentiments. There are TONS of smart kids at our many universities (yes, there are more than those two goliaths in Cambridge
…), but too few of them are aware of opportunities in startups.
The more initiatives we have the better our chances will be. DartBoston has started something special with their events and we're proud of what we're working on with Greenhorn Connect both on the site and contributing to events on different levels like Drinkup Linkup and especially the Career Combine. MassChallenge has done a great job of driving down and I'm excited to see how BostInnovation's Campus Initiative (which we're hoping to team up with them on) goes as well.
Constructing logical career paths and entry points for students is an important aspect that I think we still need to think about (not everyone is ready to found a company straight out of college), but we're starting to do better with at least raising some awareness thanks to the initiatives you mentioned.
Here's to the efforts now and hopefully many more in the future!
Cheers!
-Jason
May 28th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I love what you are doing to make students feel good about being in Boston! Keep it up!
I also think you hit on a very important point – career paths are necessary. The other line in the chart I've posted in from the census is founders who are in the area because they moved there for a previous job. Keeping technologists and students with entrepreneurial goals in Boston is a big deal…
May 28th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Luckily, in Boston you don't have to have a car to make it here; I haven't driven a car since I came to Boston over 7 years ago.
At the same time, I would be lying if I didn't say I wouldn't want to drive here if I could*. No turn signals, one way streets and poor signage #fail.
May 29th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
We've developed a revolutionary solution, by combining an entrepreneurship specialization (learning from professors), entrepreneurship center (learning from mentors) and internships at startups in our incubator and beyond (learning from founders). See: http://bit.ly/cDyZzq. Jeff McCarthy, Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, agrees: "The hope is that a program like this truly can fuel the workforce engine required to launch the next generation of startups.”
Learn how you can participate on June 15th at 5:30 pm at the Venture Development Center. http://bit.ly/d0rtZr.
May 29th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Great post, Healy…always nice to have data shed some light on these dynamics…
May 29th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
William, it looks like VDC could be a good program. Are students getting excited? How long has the program been around?
May 29th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
[...] programming and technical talent is even harder. Taking data from The Entrepreneurs Census, which I wrote about yesterday, we can get a glimpse into how hard it is to hire programmers in Boston, Palo Alto and New [...]
May 29th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Thanks, Healy. We've been at this for about one year, just now formalizing it, but not too much! 47 interns placed in venture-backed startups so far. These internships make the students want to stay in the Boston area since may convert into full time jobs.
Fact is most graduates (from any university) are not prepared to survive in the wild as founders or early employees – that is what we are aiming to change.
June 1st, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Healy, another great post. Thanks. The street sign idea would be nice (but that'll never happen; and GPS will make it not a big deal eventually.) What's even more important than the issue of the street signs is the issue of the venture capitalists. Check out TrueEndurance's comment to Scott Kirsner's recent post on the subject of yet another start up moving from Boston to the Bay Area. http://bit.ly/aTftUR Until this problem is solved we'll continue to see the "best and brightest" that Jason Evanish talks about leaving town. Sad.
June 1st, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Desmond, very interesting point. It remains more difficult to get $ in Boston than SF.Sent from my iPhone